Amnesty's attack on Northern Ireland abortion law is 'arrogant' says pro-life group SPUC

21 October 2014

Belfast: Criticism by Amnesty International of Northern Ireland’s legal protection for unborn children has been described as arrogant and anti-democratic by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) the UK's largest pro-life organisation.

SPUC was responding to an opinion poll, commissioned by Amnesty International, which claims that over 70 percent of people in Britain believed Northern Ireland should change its abortion laws to fit in with the rest of the UK.

Liam Gibson, SPUC's development officer in Northern Ireland said: "A public consultation on proposed changes in the law here will run until January 2015. We will see then just how accurate or not is Amnesty's opinion poll. I expect that the majority of those who respond will oppose the abortion of disabled babies, which is a lethal form of discrimination.

"The number of women from Northern Ireland seeking abortions in Britain continues to decline. Official figures show that it was just 802 in 2013, a fall of nearly 50 percent from 2001.

"The elected representatives of the people of Northern Ireland have repeatedly rejected all attempts to introduce Britain's Abortion Act 1967 to the Province.

"The claim that there should only be one abortion law for the whole of the UK fails to recognise the movement toward even greater devolution of powers following the Scottish referendum.

"It is scandalous that a group like Amnesty International, which claims to promote human rights, should seek to strip unborn children of their right to life. For Amnesty to imply that Northern Ireland is somehow backward because we protect our children from abortion is extremely insulting. There is no right to abortion recognised in international law", concluded Mr Gibson.